The Virginian-Pilot
©
DARE, N.C.
Eight years after Hurricane Isabel destroyed the last one, the Navy has rebuilt a waterborne training target off the coast of North Carolina and plans to begin using it next week.
The target is anchored in Pamlico Sound, roughly nine nautical miles from the town of Stumpy Point, in a training area known as Long Shoal Naval Ordnance Area – or, more commonly, Stumpy Point Bombing Range. It’s the military’s only training site that resembles an enemy ship and is located in the water.
The Navy said it will be used for target practice as soon as Tuesday by personnel aboard helicopters and fighter jets from several nearby bases, including Oceana Naval Air Station, Norfolk Naval Station’s Chambers Field, Langley Air Force Base, and, in North Carolina, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station and New River Marine Corps Air Station.
Besides dropping light practice bombs, they’ll fire machine guns.
While the ordnance will be inert, officials are warning boaters to stay out of the “surface danger zone” – waters within a 1½-nautical-mile radius of the target.
“While the target may look interesting,” the service said in a news release, “the entire surface danger zone is to be avoided as it may contain safety and navigation hazards ranging from sharp metal to unexploded spotting charges.”
The Navy estimated it will use the area about 255 days a year, primarily during the week between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Officials said it’s unlikely that people who live in the area will hear noise from the range or that any ordnance will make its way to shore. Any that does should be reported to police and shouldn’t be touched.
The military first opened the range in 1959. It stopped operations there in 1997 after the original target began to deteriorate. Trainings briefly resumed after the target was refurbished in 2003 but ceased again when it was destroyed during the hurricane.
Corinne Reilly, (757) 446-2949, corinne.reilly@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
I am proud of NC for being supportive of the bombing range
As I read articles on this subject I have to admit I am sqeamish on it. I can only wonder in amazement why NC leadership views jet landing practice as an evil but dropping bombs is no problem. I am sure I am not knowledable on bombing practice so I have to assume they can come up with a reason.
If I were to be told I was going to be living next to a bombing range I have a feeling I would move. Now I certainly wouldn't expect the USN to relocate their range but I would probably get out of their way. As scared as I am of flying, I am not bothered by being near a flying plane, being near a bomb, that is altogether different to me. I fear bombs, war and a lack of liberty. That is the main reason I am so grateful to every service member.
ahh, you would not have liked living on the kennedy or
probably any other carrier. Our chowhall seating shared space with the ordance folks for staging bombs. I remember eating and having bombs right next to me. And yes, they were yellow stripped bommies. 250 and 500lb I believe. Every now and then they would move them big ones, 1k and heavier. You get acclomated to having them as dinner partners.
Just like noise from jets. In VB, folks are allowed to live with the noise, but in NC, we were not. Strange that the Secretary has two sets of standards for partnering with folks. And yes, he had this philosophy before folks really even started to oppose him. He came into NC with the idea of taking what he wanted knowing it was not required.
Still, this bombing range is required. Bombs away!
You are correct.
I would not have liked it. I remember climbing down the rackety ladders on USS America when I worked at NNSY and honestly I felt uneasy even doing that. I also went on a destroyer and a submarine. The feeling of unease didn't get any better.
Thank you for serving.
Only target I ever got was
Only target I ever got was water
Looks like a hybrid derived
Looks like a hybrid derived from the Monitor and the Merrimack. She doesn't stand a chance.
Bombs
A long time ago my ship towed targets for jets to hit with their practice bombs. It was quite interesting. The bomb is like one of those firecrackers you throw on the street and it pops.
Now the story did not say that they were not using real bullets for the machine guns or what caliber the machine guns were.
it was so cool to see the A-7 pilots doing their low level bomb
runs on our pulled sled back in the 80s. I would be up on vultures row watching them make their low level run extremely low. I would pick them up by their black line of exhaust and then marvel at how they could pop up, flip on their back, acquire the target, flip back to normal, line up the target and then put the bomb on target while we were steaming. They did this pop up to delivery amazingly quick. That is precision bombing AND that training is vital to our pilots survival as well as the overall mission of the Navy.
Ackmadinajah, your boys really dont want to be on the receiving end of one of those bombing runs. Think about your saber rattling and what will happen to your sailors.
Mr. Secretary, do more of this training when required.
very strange that the Secretary of the Navy insists that he
needs to fly and practice missions in darkness because that is when our pilots typically perform their missions. Yet here is another example of the Navy NOT training as they will fight because most of their practices will be done during daylight hours.
One of the arguements for taking upwards of 30,000 acres is he never knows when a carrier strike force needs to train and they could sortie in the summertime. Well, if he is shutting down training by 11pm, that gives him about 1 hour of darkness to practice as we fight.
The stories dont add up again. Yes, our pilots need this training. Never said they dont. Seems strange to go this long to replace a training device for training that is this vital to our pilots. But its here now. Good.
Where do YOU live???
I don't know exactly where you live, but it gets dark somewhere between 5:30-6:30 typically here in VB. Depending on the time of year, sometimes it is as late as 8 or so, but either way, that's certainly more than "an hour of daylight" to train "as we fight". Also, training in the daylight has it's advantages when it comes to the evaluation of their progress and/or effectiveness. Do YOU practice shooting at night? I'll bet not, because you couldn't see the target or if you even hit it unless you have night vision equipment. I know, I know, you're saying," Well we fly most of our sorties at night!" and yes we do, but that is what simulators are for, live target training is an entirely different thing.
regarding simulators. the secretary
has told us that simulators only go so far and then he must do the real thing. I have to, and willing believe that statement.
Many would love for him to have our pilots simulate most of our pilots training flights if it means they can have a good nights sleep around Oceana. I, on the otherhand want our pilots to train as they will fight. We, as a country, must provide our pilots with the best facilities possible. We must also support that mission or beg the Secretary to move elsewhere when we fail to support the mission.
In NC, the people understand this. That is why no one is fighting the bombing ranges. In VB, they encroached and then complain to the point where our pilots cannot utilize their assets to its fullest. Understand?